polls show that republicans would overwhelmingly be blamed if the united states goes over the proverbial fiscal cliff. and that's why president obama has an advantage, because he's willing -- he says, this is what he and his advisers say, he's willing to send the nation off of the fiscal cliff, letting all income tax rates to jump, spending cuts to take hold, investment income rates to jump. he's willing to do that. he thinks republicans would get the political blame. republicans, on the other hand, note that listen, the president's going to have to have another term where he's dealing with what's likely to be a deep recession as a result of these huge income tax jumps. so it's a position that neither man really wants to be in, but talks have completely dried up. yesterday speaker john boehner and president obama did not speak and their staffs did not speak. so really this thing is at a standstill like we've never seen before. >> yeah. so the fact that we're not even talking now. the aides aren't even talking the each other. where does that leave us? how comfortable is everybody with thi